7 August 2021 12:00 am Views - 133
By Kelum Bandara
A WHO (World Health Organisation) expert said Lambda variant of COVID-19, detected after Delta variant, does not seem to take off once it is reported in a country. WHO Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove told a live press conference on August 4 that it is a variant of interest but not a variant of concern.
The WHO is tracking Lambda variant of COVID-19 at the global level.
“We have six or 13 alerts that we’re following and we have many, many more signals that we’re looking at,” she said.
The Lambda variant is known as C37. It has been reported in more than 40 countries.
“So it is actively being discussed as a variant of interest because it is being reported in a number of countries, but what we’re looking at is how well it circulates, how much transmission takes off once the variant is detected. In fact it really doesn’t seem to take off once it is reported in a country,” she said.